Determinants of Canadian Social Assistance Participation Rates

Abstract

This article investigates whether selected features of the Canada Assistance Plan and various economic, demographic, and political factors have had any significant effect on the social assistance participation rates in Canadian provinces. The first section reviews the background to the cuirent social assistance programme in Canada and draws attention to some questions of major interest. The second section describes a reduced form model that was used for ordinary least squares estimation with pooled cross‐section, time‐series data drawn from post‐Plan experience (i.e., 1968–75). The third section presents the results of that estimation while the fourth section presents an analysis of them. The fifth and final section tentatively concludes that “Plan variables” were of less importance than “Non‐Plan variables” in determining provincial social assistance participation rates.

Citation

Spindler, Z.A. and Gilbreath, W.S. (1979), "Determinants of Canadian Social Assistance Participation Rates", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 164-176. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013834